Module 6: Green Building

• Overview
• Rating Systems
• Green Leasing
• Program Planning
• Practices
• Running Your Program
• Resources

Overview

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Benefits of Green Building

The benefits of green building design fall within the following categories:

• Environmental
• Economic
• Health and safety
• Community

The environmental benefits of green building include a reduction in the consumption of natural resources and in the protection of air quality, water quality, and the overall health of biodiversity and the ecosystem.

Reductions in the consumption of natural resources consist of reduced utility (water, energy, gas) demand through innovative technologies and building design. Reductions also result from the use of building materials made from recycled content, rapidly renewable materials, sustainably managed forests, and local materials.

Green building practices include minimal site disturbance that preserves existing vegetation and minimizes soil erosion. Stormwater (quantity and quality) is also a critical component of green building design.

The economic benefits of green building include lower utility (energy, waste, and water) costs, building operations costs, and savings from improved occupant productivity and health. Green buildings have been shown to improve the bottom line for owners:

• They have 3.5 percent higher occupancy rates ^[7]
• They have 3 percent higher rent rates ⁷
• They see a 7.5 percent increase in building value ⁷
• They improve return on investment by 6.6 percent ⁷

There have been countless reports on the first costs of green building. The truth is that the additional costs to make a building “green” can vary widely. It is also true that buildings are now being built at a 0 percent premium, but this advantage is only for experienced “green” owners and developers. A USGBC study shows a range of 0.66–6.5 percent cost premium for buildings.

For more information about the costs of green building design, check out the following Web links:

http://www.state.co.us/oemc/rebuildco/services/highperformance/leed_co/appendices/appendixd.pdf

http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=42676&a=120927

Green buildings can potentially reduce project costs through the use of integrated design. Green-building projects that are well integrated and comprehensive in scope can result in lower or neutral project-development costs. Rehabilitating an existing building can lower infrastructure and materials costs. Integrated design can use the payback from some strategies to pay for others. Energy-efficient building envelopes can reduce equipment needs—downsizing some equipment, such as chillers, or eliminating equipment, such as perimeter heating. Using pervious paving and other runoff-prevention strategies can reduce the size and cost of stormwater-management structures. (USGBC)

One study showed that green buildings have an average payback of three years with an annual return on investments of 25–40 percent.

http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=1992

Another economic benefit of green-building design is significant reductions in operating costs. A California study shows a 30 percent increase in designed energy savings, a 30–50 percent decrease in water consumption, and a 50–97 percent savings in waste costs.

Occupants in “green” buildings benefit from health and safety features. This benefit also relates to risk management, economics, and productivity. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) found that average Americans spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, and indoor air quality can be two to five times worse than outdoor air quality.^[8]

Green buildings have been shown to improve occupant performance, such as:

• Faster patient recovery in hospitals^[9]
• Better student performance on tests^{[10] [11]}
• “A study by Sheffield University for NHS Estates compared patient outcomes in a newly refurbished orthopedic unit at Poole hospital with those in a 1960s conventional ward. The study found that patients treated on the refurbished ward required less analgesic medication than those on the older ward. Patients not undergoing operations were discharged significantly more quickly from the newer ward—after 6.4 days compared with 8.1 days.”
• Increased sales in retail stores^[12]

Community and municipal benefits include a reduced demand for large-scale infrastructure such as landfills, water supply, stormwater sewers, and their related development and operational costs; decreased transportation development and maintenance burden (roads), and increased economic performance of mass transit systems.